Malaclypse the Younger

Don Morgan reports that the process of reading the bible carefully, from the perspective of a sincere believer, let him to atheism.

I expect, however, that this method has this effect only when the individual in question possesses unusual intelligence and self-honesty.

[ March 31, 2002: Message edited by: Malaclypse the Younger ]</p>

jdawg2

I just started reading it recently, and it's amazing all of the funny things that have happened within the first 30 pages...

-God curses women with pain during childbirth because Eve ate an apple.

-God sends a flood that kills every living thing, and when it's over he basically says "sorry guys, I promise I won't do that again"

-God tells Abraham to go sacrifice his son, and when he's about to do it, God basically says "I was just playing, don't REALLY do it...but at least I know you're on my side"

-Lot's two daughters get him drunk and have sex with him

-Lot's wife (I think) turns around to look at all the destruction God caused, and is turned into a pillar of salt (???)

...somewhat interesting so far, although it's strange to me that God is kind of an ass from the beginning...yet he's considered the pinnacle of love. Also, I was already an atheist before I started reading it, so that may be why all this stuff is funny to me. *shrug*

diana

I expect, however, that this method has this effect only when the individual in question possesses unusual intelligence and self-honesty.

I concur.

d

SteveD

I am just reading the complete bible for the first time and am just about through the old testament.

I don't know how anyone can see this as anything more than a legendized folk history of the Jews.

I also found that most of the time it practically bores me to tears.

Steve

x-member

I don't want to spoil the book for you...

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SPOILER
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Turns out, at the end, "god" is quite a bit of a jerk.

Jon

[ March 31, 2002: Message edited by: Jon Up North ]</p>

nixon

Yes reading the bible works! However, it is a very interesting chore to actually get Christians to read the damned thing. I am the only atheist in my whole family (Other than those who don't say and don't seem to care one way or the other). I tell them if they would only read the book, they would see what I did. I even help them along every now and then by grabbing some condemning verses that they could look up and see how bad it really is. You know stuff like:

Matt 1:23-25 -What are we supposed to actually call Jesus. You know these people don't even know that "Christ" is a title; not a last name!

or

Judges 1:19 -How could the master of the universe possibly be beaten by a people just because they had better wheels? They can't even say I took it out of context because this verse IS it's own context!

I am utterly at a loss as to what to do with my family because they not only won't see any of this common sense about their holy book, but are adamently opposed to reading to see if what I say might not be true. Like maybe they're afraid of losing their faith. But if thats so, their faith ain't worth having. (Being significantly smaller than a mustard seed.) Another thing that weirds me is that my whole family is disfunctional and (other than my mom [who confesses shes afraid for her faith and has a kinda truce with me to just not talk about these things] and step-daughter [Who isn't really convinced that I am what I am, and so thinks I will come back to the faith-BUT is smart enough not to argue with me about it.]) the more Christian the members, the goofier they are!

PS although it is a different topic (That definately deserves a thread of it's own), trips to the local zoo can make a big dent in Christianity. Nothing like checking out the animals that are obviously similar to man to take the steam out of the "I ain't come from no monkey" crowds sails!

Abacus

A few years ago, the first (and only) time I read through the bible, I think I became an atheist by the time I reached 2 Kings. I'm sorry, but that book is just too damn unbelievable.

Maybe we don't always give people as much credit as they deserve. I think perhaps most believers (except for some nutters) would have at least serious doubts about their faith if they actually would bother to read their "Holy" book from cover to cover. Of course, it is a real chore to do so.

MassAtheist

While reading the bible didn't cause my deconversion, it has acted very strongly to reinforce my (dis)beliefs. I had shifted from being a fairly liberal christian to humanist type beliefs over the course of about 5 years. Then I started reading bits of the bible a chapter or two picked arbitrarily. The more I read, the more I became convinced that God did not exist.

butswana

I read it twice while being bored to tears during Mormon church services. I was 12-16 years old. It read like a badly written fairy tale. At an earlier age I equated bible stories with Mother Goose. Belief never made sense to me.
My older brother used to jokingly call me Onan because I would regale him with glorious tales of coitus interuptus.